• ESPN and Uninterrupted, the digital media company founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, will debut an original series, More Than An Athlete, Nov. 20, exclusively on ESPN+. The eight-episode series follows James’ journey from basketball prodigy to global sports icon, businessman and philanthropist via the bonds of friendship and partnership among four men over more than two decades: James, Carter, Randy Mims and Rich Paul.

• The NFL and Mexico's President-Elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed that the third game of the existing agreement signed in 2016 will be played in 2019 at Estadio Azteca. The date and time of the game will be determined in conjunction with the release of the 2019 NFL schedule next spring

• NBC Sports and the Premier League are partnering to present their second Premier League Mornings Live, scheduled to take place in New York on Saturday, Dec. 8. The event will include a turf pitch, the Premier League trophy, club mascots and special guests. The initial fan fest in September was attended by more than 2,000 on a rooftop overlooking the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.

• Between now and Nov. 19, every use of #SaluteToService on Twitter will generate a $5 donation, up to $5 million, to the NFL’s military non-profit partners – including the Pat Tillman Foundation, TAPS, USO, Wounded Warrior Project and the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

But when the University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers defeated Virginia 74-54 Friday night to become the first-ever men’s No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 — men’s No. 1 seeds were 135-0 all-time against No. 16 seeds going into the game — UMBC is now going to cost Little Caesars Pizza a lot of Hot-N-Ready Deep-Deep Lunch Combos.

And Little Caesars Pizza says bring it on, thanks in part to the national publicity and millions of dollars it could receive in equivalent media coverage.

“I’d give you a number if I had one!” said Jill Proctor, corporate communications manager for Detroit-based Little Caesars Pizza, when NYSportsJournalism asked her how many Little Caesars Hot-N-Ready Lunch Combos the company expects to hand out on April 2.

“Sorry. All I know is that we’ll give away as many as possible between the hours of 11:30 and 1,” said Proctor.

The Hot-N-Ready Deep-Deep Lunch Combos normally cost $5 and include four Detroit-style “Deep-Deep Dish” pizza slices and a 20-ounce Pepsi product. They will be offered free at participating locations between the hours of 11:30 AM - 1 PM local time (subject to terms and conditions, details here).

Industry analysts said these types of promotions are usually covered by insurance but could still cost the company money. That might be a mute point for Little Caesars due to the amount of publicity and free media coverage it is getting.

Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, which opened in 2017 as home to the NBA’s Pistons and NHL’s Red Wings — and for which the company paid $120 million over 20 years for naming rights, according to industry analysts — hosted games in Round 1 and 2 March 15-18.

Little Caesars is projected to receive an Equivalent Advertising Value (EAV) of more than $1.2 million from NCAA Tournament national TV broadcasts on CBS and Turner Sports Networks and another $60,000 from local TV/radio broadcasts during Round 1 and 2 coverage, said Eric Smallwood, president for analytics, naming rights and sponsorship sales firm Apex Marketing Group, St. Clair MI.

The Hot-N-Ready Deep-Deep Lunch Combo promo has earned Little Caesars another $700,000 EAV to date from TV, radio, press and social media coverage, with the number expected to increase between now and April 2, according to Apex Marketing.

Although not an official partner of NCAA — the pizza category is held by Pizza Hut — Little Caesars has been omnipresent during March Madness.

In addition to the games in Little Caesars Arena, the company has been running multi-media marketing around the Tournament, including a national TV spot, “Skatepark” (pictured below), touting the $5 Lunch Combo “now just $ for limited time.” The commercial did not reference the Lunch Combo giveaway promotion.

And now add national press due to the UMBC upset of Virginia.

Some industry analysts predict that the general public will associate Little Caesars with the Tournament more so than Pizza Hut.

“With all of the coverage Little Caesars is receiving from the naming rights, the promotion and the future coverage as the April 2 promotion period approaches, Little Caesars may well become one of the most talked about non-official NCAA brands during the Tournament,” said Smallwood.

Coverage has included the likes of USA Today, Time, Fortune, Sporting News, Crain’s, CBS, NBC, ABC and the hometown Detroit Free Press as well as local publications and news outlets nationwide.

The promotion was unveiled this past Thursday with a press release and tweet from Little Caesars that read, “If any #16-seeded team beats a #1-seeded team today or tomorrow. @littlecaesars will give away one free HOT-N-READY® Lunch Combo to every family that comes into a participating store between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on April 2. #MarchMadness.”

UMBC was in the South Region, with games played in Spectrum Arena, Charlotte, NC. Outfitted by Under Armour, the team received new kicks and other goodies for its game Sunday night against Kansas State thanks to Under Armour lead hoops spokesman Stephen Curry.

"It was crazy to watch such an upset, but it's a big win for pizza lovers," according to Ed Gleich, svp-global marketing for Little Caesars. "Our Lunch Combo is free on April 2, the final day of the men's college basketball tournament." (Details here).

The NCAA said it was tracking tens of millions of brackets at five major bracket games, including the Capital One March Madness Bracket Challenge Game, ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo, and CBS.

Only 2.18% of all BCG brackets picked the Retrievers to pull off the upset. For reference, 13.73% of brackets picked Virginia to win the championship.

Little Caesars Pizza has more than 5,400 locations worldwide and is located in all 50 U.S. states.

Based on sales it is the third-largest pizza chain in America behind Pizza Hut and Domino’s, according to Pizza Magazine.

According to Little Caesars, it is the “largest carryout-only pizza chain in the United States (and) third largest pizza chain in the world with stores in 23 countries and territories worldwide, including in each of the 50 U.S. states.”